Exploring the Science Behind Manmade Quakes in Texas

This water tower in Timpson wasn't build to withstand earthquakes. "After 4.0 [on the Richter scale], we get pretty nervous," says Timpson's Mayor Debra Smith. "We have buildings up in town that over a hundred years old."

Larry Burns is the Emergency Coordinator for the town of Timpson, in East Texas. "If the quakes get much over a 5.0 [on the Richter scale], then we suspect we'll have some damage. It could be anything from broken lines, broken mains to a water tower on th

Cliff Frohlich of UT Austin has studied the quakes. "It's like smoking and lung cancer," Frohlich says. "Some people smoke and never get lung cancer. Some people get lung cancer and don't smoke. And that's sort of the situation with injection wells."

The North Texas towns of Reno and Azle have seen over thirty earthquakes since November, sometimes more than one a day. It’s been unsettling for residents like Barbara Brown.

“Damage to my home, sinkholes on my property. Nerves! And a lot of angst,” she said. “Because you just don’t know when they’re going to happen again.”

And it’s not the only town in the state that’s been hit with tremors. Texas has seen the number of earthquakes increase ten times since the drilling boom began several years ago. While studies have linked the quakes to oil and gas drilling activities, but state regulators and politicians say the science is far from settled.

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Another minor earthquake shook the North Texas community of Azle on Monday. It’s one of dozens to hit the region over the last few months that have residents on edge and complaining of property damage.

Many see a link between the quakes and increased oil and gas activity. But challenges confront scientists researching the quakes for the U.S. Geological Survey and Southern Methodist University. For one, they’ve needed to more accurately pinpoint the epicenters of the Azle quakes.

The two were among hundreds of townspeople hoping to get answers at a meeting hosted last night by the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas industry regulators. The area, in Parker and Tarrant counties, didn’t experience earthquakes until recently. Now, it’s seen a swarm of over twenty minor ones in the last two months, troubling residents and causing damage to some homes. The earthquakes would be the topic of discussion.